FINAL SCORE: 45-31
WEST LAFAYETTE, IND — On Saturday, no one was expecting the Purdue Boilermakers to hang tough with Michigan State, but the Boilers proved to the rest of the country that they were going to be a tough opponent.
The week before, the Boilers had just gone down to Champaign Memorial Stadium and evened their record at 1-1 in the conference and 3-3 overall with Austin Appleby at the helm. Darrell Hazell decided to let Appleby be the starter for the second consecutive Saturday due to his consistency.
The Boilers were able to prove to the Big Ten champs that they were going to play them tough for sixty minutes. It wasn’t going to be a cakewalk like it had been in East Lansing the prior year, but this year felt much closer.
This year’s Purdue team still feels like they have a shot at bowl eligibility, but they have to reach the magic number of six wins to be able to do that … which is doable. Appleby and the rest of the Boilers travel to TCF Bank Stadium where they will take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers at 11 o’clock on Saturday.
